Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning July 2006 » Blue things on MCD « Previous Next »
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Cassie1717
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Username: Cassie1717

Post Number: 41
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 6:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What are those blue, flappy things hanging out the windows on the MCD? I wish I had a picture to post of it. How odd.
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Drm
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Username: Drm

Post Number: 1031
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.212.32.179
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 9:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It was done as a protest by some of our local artists and developers and friends. As of 6:30 tonight, only one blue sheet remained.
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Bvos
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Username: Bvos

Post Number: 1741
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.248.0.137
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 9:16 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Katrina tarps?
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Gumby
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Username: Gumby

Post Number: 1335
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.60.143.186
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I hate when people make up incorrect acronyms. I assume you are talking about MCS.
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Motorcitymayor2026
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Username: Motorcitymayor2026

Post Number: 1049
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 24.231.189.137
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

well, Gumby, MCS never had an official name, soo....
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Michael
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Username: Michael

Post Number: 753
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.21.35.176
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 11:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

As of 6:30 tonight, only one blue sheet remained.




If they are gone, it was after 6:30. I was working on the roof of a nearby development at 6:30 and they were still in place. We left the parking lot of said development at 6:47 and they were still in place.

Too bad if they are gone, I liked it. It reminded me of Christo for a moment.
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Gumby
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Username: Gumby

Post Number: 1336
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.60.143.186
Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 12:01 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, well it is the accepted acronym here. Random letters only confuse the issues.
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Barnesfoto
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Username: Barnesfoto

Post Number: 2239
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 63.164.47.227
Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 2:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

hmm, amazing how quickly those dissappered. They must have gone up last night. Must have been a large group of people working by flashlight. Crazy hipsters!
Maybe someday Maroun the vampire will put some windows in...
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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 1240
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 136.1.1.33
Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 3:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Did anyone happen to catch a pic of these before they were taken down? I was startled to see them yesterday morning and was tempted to stop and snap a picture, but that's easier said than done when you're on I-75.

I suppose some of the people involved must have taken a picture...
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Krawlspace
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Username: Krawlspace

Post Number: 266
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 69.246.59.68
Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 9:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

MCD or MCS?
Both names, it appears, have existed from the beginning.
For instance:
I have about 25 different postcards depicting the building, both interiors and exteriors ca. 1913 - 1965. About 40% say Depot, and 60% Station.
I also have over 2 dozen souvenirs from the building, with 80% saying Depot and 20% saying Station.
W. Hawkins Ferry's Buildings of Detroit calls it Station in the text, but Depot in the index.
Kelli Kavanaugh's Arcadia book title is Detroit's Michigan Central Station, but is referred to as Depot both in text and caption in several places.
Lastly, and I think this may be as close to "official" as one might get, I have quite a few ticket stubs with a stamp on the back of each one stating the date (1920-1922) and "MICH. CENT. DEPOT".

This being the case, it would seem that neither MCS or MCD could be referred to as "random letters".

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Thecarl
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Username: Thecarl

Post Number: 890
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.14.30.175
Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 9:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

i am immediately copyrighting the following rap/hip-hop monikers: mc station, mc depot, and mc deep.
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Supersport
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Username: Supersport

Post Number: 10377
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.246.37.236
Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 10:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

We left the parking lot of said development at 6:47




Are you absolutely positive it wasn't 6:48? Do you have any alibis who can vouch for this time?
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The_aram
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Username: The_aram

Post Number: 4996
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.41.124.8
Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 12:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Krawlspace, I've also heard it referred to as Penn Central Station, as for a time, I think, the Pennsylvania Railroad owned it or some such thing.
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Gumby
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Username: Gumby

Post Number: 1337
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.60.143.186
Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 2:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

OK but ot has largly been refered to as MCS here. That is all I am trying to say. It was confusing to see MCD
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Adamjab19
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Username: Adamjab19

Post Number: 704
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 24.192.148.148
Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 7:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What about POS?
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Psewick
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Username: Psewick

Post Number: 37
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 70.235.110.46
Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 9:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I got a photo, but it's not very large or of high resolution. Here is the URL:

http://pics.livejournal.com/ve gan27/pic/00055d3k
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 529
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 141.216.1.4
Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 11:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I mentioned before that most railroaders simply called it "MC Depot" (this according to a 1978 article in Trains Magazine).

Some history is in order to get a better grasp on why this station's name has been confusing.

Since before 1913, the Michigan Central RR had been majority owned by the Vanderbilt interests, which also controlled the New York Central RR (before 1914, the New York Central & Hudson River RR). As early as 1913, the MC RR was described as part of the New York Central System (according to a company check I have).

In 1930, the NYC leased the MC for 999 (!) years. Gradually, the station was also referred to as New York Central Station. In 1968, the Pennsylvania RR and the NYC RR merged to form Penn Central. After that, the station was sometimes called the Penn Central Station. And of course, when Amtrak began in 1971 it called the building "Amtrak Station" in timetables.

But through all of this, the MC still legally existed and owned the station. On 4/1/76, Penn Central's railroad operations were transferred to Conrail and ownership of the station passed to Conrail (not 100% certain of that, but Conrail definitely had significant office operations there).

After 1976, Penn Central continued to exist. It completed bankruptcy reorganization, liquidated RR properties not transferred to Conrail, diversified into insurance and financial services, and eventually changed its name to American Premier Underwriters. The Michigan Central RR (which had continued to exist on paper) was finally merged into this company in 1995.
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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 1245
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 136.1.1.33
Posted on Friday, July 28, 2006 - 1:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks Psewick, that's pretty much what I saw. I kind of liked the concept, but it's not nearly as compelling as the old UA window murals as a form of abandoned building art. I take it that some Maroun workers were probably tasked with removing the sheets? Or did the people who put them up remove them?
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Psewick
Member
Username: Psewick

Post Number: 38
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 70.235.110.46
Posted on Friday, July 28, 2006 - 5:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I can't imagine that people would be sent in to clean up those things so quickly (before nightfall on the same day).

I think instead they just fell down because they were put up in haste--the urban explorers had to get up early the next morning because Hot Topic was having a sale on hooded sweatshirts and black plastic glasses.
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Slows
Member
Username: Slows

Post Number: 138
Registered: 01-2005
Posted From: 69.246.28.200
Posted on Friday, July 28, 2006 - 5:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It was definitely Manny's people that took everything down.
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Pdtpuck
Member
Username: Pdtpuck

Post Number: 153
Registered: 01-2006
Posted From: 208.251.168.194
Posted on Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 4:12 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

lmao @ psewick

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